FISHERIES MANAGEMENT OF LAKE KINNERETH

by

M. Bar Ilan
Fisheries Department
Ministry of Agriculture
Israel

Ancient Management Records

The first recorded fisheries management on Lake Kinnereth - Lake Tiberias - was then the tribes of Israel came into the land of Canaan in 1300 B.C., and the main fishing rights were rendered to the inhabitants of the north-western shores of the lake: the tribe of Naftali. Other tribes, on the southern shores, received only minor fishing rights. It is an interesting fact that, already at this early period, determination of fishing rights was expressed in terms of fishing methods.

This division and the regulations were either issued by or ascribed to Joshua, as follows: “And it is allowed (to other tribes) to fish by hooks on the sea of Tiberias but not to throw cast net and not to steady the boat (meaning: beginning to set a shore seine) and it is also allowed to set traps. It was agreed by the tribes that the sea of Tiberias belongs to Naftali” (who had the main fishing rights: shore seines and cast nets).

The Lake

The 170 km² lake is situated in the Syrian-African Rift Valley, 209 to 212 m below sea level. Water temperature is 14-C to 28-C and the maximum depth is 42 m.

The lake's indigenous fish population consists mainly of two Sarotherodon species, Tilapia and Tristramella, three species of barbel, Kinnereth bleak (Mirogrex terrae sanctae), catfish and some non-commercial fishes. Grey mullet and silver carp are stocked continuously. Common carp has been introduced sometimes in the past but never assumed an important share in the catches.

The average annual catch in the last decade is 1,800–2,000 t, i.e. approximately 117 kg per hectare. Productivity of the lake is limited by stratification, long seasons of lack of oxygen and stagnation in the hypolymnion with only a few months of full water circulation and saturation of oxygen throughout all water layers.

Composition of Annual Catch

Fishing Methods

There are two main fisheries: (a) Purse seining, supported by seven 10–12 m boats using 250 m purse seines and equipped with power blocks and acoustic fish finders. Each operates with 4 to 5 auxiliary lamp boats. They fish mainly Kinnereth bleak but approximately 20 percent of their effort is aimed at larger fish: Sarotherodon, Tilapia, grey mullet, Barbus and silver carp. (b) An artisanal fishery, supported by 4–6 m open boats, outboard-motor driven, using fleets of 10 to 20 2-m deep trammel nets, fleets of 10 to 20 driftnets or fleets of 20 to 40 4–6 m deep gillnets. Most recently 6–9 m deep trammel monofilament nets have been introduced and are used either as bottom-set or driftnets. In 1981, 90 fishing units used these nets.

This new development has upset the traditional division between the offshore purse-seine units and the artisanal inshore trammel-net/gillnet fishery. The deep driftnets compete now successfully with purse seines in deeper and offshore fishing grounds causing, however, new conflicts. Shore seines and longlines which existed until 1955 were abandoned as absorbing too much labour. Harpoon-gun fishing is prohibited in the lake.

The Market Situation

Demand for Sarotherodon, Tilapia and grey mullet is not being met by supply. Especially the Sarotherodon galileus is in high demand, perhaps because Sarotherodon aureus and grey mullet are grown also in ponds by fish breeders who produce larger quantities of these fish than those caught in the lake. The market for barbel, silver carp and carp is normal, whereas the market situation for the Kinnereth bleak is deteriorating. Only 10 percent of this small fish (12–14 cm) is sold fresh - only during the winter season; the rest is canned and, as far as taste is concerned, it cannot compete with the marine sardines.

Actual Problems of Fisheries Management at Lake Kinnereth

There is a steady and ever-growing pressure by the fishermen to authorize more fishing units, and a tendency of the existing units to increase quantity and area of nets (which needs no authorization) and to introduce echo-sounders and other modern gear, thus increasing fishing effort.

The rapidly decreasing prices of the Kinnereth bleak, caused by changes in customers' preferences, and the resulting effect on the feasibility of its canning by the industry endangers the purse-seine fishery, resulting in the concentration of fishing effort on valuable customer-preferred species.

The growth of the tourism industry and boating on the lake interferes with fishing. Natural shores are being reshaped and made inaccessible to fishermen. There is also a constant pressure for nature preservation which aims at reducing fishing activities.

Lake Kinnereth is the main water reservoir of the country; thus, water authorities seek to maintain good water quality in the lake. Scientists of the water authorities have expressed opinions and outlooks which are not in agreement with the management programme supported by the scientists of the Fisheries Department with respect to the stocking of the lake.

Fisheries Administration

The legal body responsible for fisheries and fish-breeding management and licensing is the Fisheries Department in the Ministry of Agriculture.

Another body involved with the lake is the Kinnereth Administration. It functions as an extension of the Water Commissioner's administration under the supervision of the Minister of Agriculture. The Kinnereth Administration has been appointed in order to deal with the environmental problems of the hydrological basin of Lake Kinnereth, the River Jordan, and the ecological aspects of the lake itself, first of all water quality. The Kinnereth Administration collaborates closely with the Laboratory for Kinnereth Research designed to deal with the lake's water quality. Relations between the Laboratory and the fisheries biologists of the Fisheries Department are loosely coordinated through scientific committees.

Other governmental bodies acting in the lake area are: the Ministry of Transportation which is responsible for navigation and safety; the Nature Reserves Authority which has interests in this area, and several other governmental agencies. There are two fishermen's organizations: the national Fishermen's Union and a local Tiberias Fishermen's Organization. Most of the Kinnereth fishermen are members of one or the other organization.

Fisheries Management Policy and the Means for its Implementation

The scientific basis for management is provided by the Fisheries Department through employment of several fisheries biologists and a senior scientific adviser. As mentioned above, another group of scientists deals with the ecological aspects of fisheries with respect to water quality.

For example, a research project has recently been launched to determine the fishing effort of purse seines with respect to different species and to reach conclusions for management of those species. Increase of mesh in the purse seines is now being contemplated as a result of a study of the bleak population. This should result in the improvement of the size composition of the catches.

The statistical basis and the intelligence for the management of the fisheries includes monitoring changes in fishing methods, unorganized marketing, etc. and the daily catches of all fishing units. Taking representative samples from fewer groups has been tested on an experimental basis and its introduction is under serious consideration.

Legislation of Kinnereth Fisheries

Licensing of professional fishing:

The existing legislation provides rules for licensing individual fishermen - and of fishing boats, including determination of the fishing methods assigned to each boat as well as other conditions. The main instrument of regulating fishing effort is therefore: licensing of boats, units and methods. Licensing of individual fishermen is less significant, as long as no misproportion between the number of vessels and number of individual licences occurs.

Licensing of boats and units - especially the large purse seine units - is a controversial and much discussed matter which sometimes comes up to the Ministry's Director-General or even to the Supreme Court of Justice. Therefore, already in the fifties, an advisory committee was appointed, semi-governmental/semi-public in its structure. The committee consists of fisheries experts, biologists, technologists, legal advisers and of representatives of local councils.

Criteria, considered by the advisory committee as well as by the Chief Fisheries Officer, for licensing boats and units are:

1. Assessment of the stock of different fish populations

2. Assessment of the economic situation of the existing branch and its units and, on the other hand, the situation of the applicants

3. Professionality of the applicants, ability to conduct the proposed fishing using the desired fishing method

4. Length of period in which the applicants have served as individual fishermen, employed in existing units, or length of period of previously existing small units, when uniting existing groups is proposed for the creation of new, larger units (purse-seine fishery).

5. Integrity of applicants: absence of infringement or transgression of fishing rules and of criminal past.

Criteria for licensing individual fishermen:

1. The number of existing licences and the proportion between individual licences and boat licences

2. Integrity of applicant: absence of criminal record

3. Family tradition of being fishermen (sons of fishermen's families are easily admitted)

4. Being an inhabitant of communities located on the lake's shores

5. Lack of other learned trade or profession or business

Functions of the Advisory Committee :

Formally, this Committee should play a consultative role. It holds annually a series of four to six licensing sessions. First, all the involved parties - new applicants and existing groups - are heard. Then the biological, economic, technical and social aspects are reviewed by the experts in each field and thoroughly discussed. Decisions, or more exactly recommendations, are taken by vote, in some of the cases unanimously, in others by majority. It is customary that valid recommendations must be reached by a large majority which is nearly always the case. These recommendations are accepted by the Director of the Fisheries Department and implemented. This rendering of uneasy or delicate problems of licensing to a large group of experts in different fields is an act of decentralization and delegation of authority. Its advantage lies in the fact that, in such a large group of experts, all relevant aspects are brought up and weighed - and there is great probability that a balanced decision is reached. Participation of interested parties, as members in the Committee, proved unworkable.

In 1981, the contents and procedures of the Advisory Committee's hearings and recommendations were examined thoroughly by the Supreme Court of Justice and found objective and efficient, and the Court supported the Fisheries Department's licensing procedures.

Licensing of sport fishing:

Massive sport fishing has not yet developed. Amateur fishermen are allowed to fish by line and hook from the shore without any licence.

Leisure boat owners tend to fish occasionally with nets, and non-inhabitants of the lake's shores tend to do the same from shore. As net-fishing by amateurs and visitors interferes strongly with the inshore fishing of professional fishermen, those activities are interdicted. Amateur licences are issued only for castnets which do not interfere significantly with trammel-net and gillnet fishing, but the number of amateurs using castnets is small.

A rule of thumb for licensing:

This general rule is to cautiously admit new units only when the general yield shows signs of increase, and the catch per effort shows at least no signs of decrease. Until now, the need never arose to discontinue the existing licences; instead, a slow but steady increase in the number of units has been achieved with the general catch rising from 300 t in the Fifties to 1,900–2,000 t in the Eighties, seemingly justifying the present practice of integrated management.

Licensing of fishing gear and methods:

Types of nets, minimum mesh size and minimum length of fish species are regulated to various degrees in accordance with the need to protect different species from being taken before having reached spawning age and size. As changes in this field occur, these measures have to be updated from time to time.

For example, gillnets must be of 80 mm mesh stretch to fit different species of barbel. Trammel nets, for fishing of Sarotherodon species, must have at least 70 mm - and in the spawning season even 90 mm - stretch mesh. Drift trammels for grey mullet have to be at least 80 mm stretch mesh; purse seines for Kinnereth bleak, 20–24 mm (additional rules related later). These mesh sizes are designed to release non-mature fish.

In the decade 1950–1960 the Fisheries Department had introduced a series of ordinances regulating - and limiting - the length and numbers of gillnets and trammel nets which were to be used by each fishing boat or unit. This measure was meant to prevent a too-rapid expansion of fishing effort. Gillnets and trammel nets were limited to 25 and 15 respectively for each boat and every net had to be stamped by an official seal. Nets found in the lake without this stamp could be confiscated.

The measure was applied for 3 to 4 years and then abandoned, not so much because of the technical problem of authorizing each net but mostly as the result of the observation that economical reasons prevented fishing units, sooner or later, from utilizing meaningfully larger quantities of nets than prescribed and that, if small infringements occurred, they did not justify the cost of the enforcement.

The most lucrative bleak fishery takes place in its main spawning area which is partly over shallow boulders and partly over deep and nearly stoneless lake bottom. The Fisheries Department introduced a special ordinance which divided this area into two sections separated physically by a line of buoys laid by the Department's fishery inspection vessel. The rocky area went to the artisanal fishermen and the smooth bottom area to the purse seiners. The measure proved to be very efficient and, after five years of implementation, this division of the fishing ground became a well-accepted fact and contributed to the elimination of yet another dispute among the Kinnerreth fishermen.

Another example of regulating a fishery relates to the winter fishing for Sarotherodon species at the hot springs off Tabgha. These springs attract large concentrations of this fish to a limited area. In order to avoid quarrels between fishermen the Fisheries Department introduced fishing “by turn”. Only five boats can operate efficiently and simultaneously at the hot springs. The Fisheries Department created partnership of five boats and allocated a “fishing turn” for 24 hours to each partnership. The turns were decided by raffle - and legalized by appropriate publication. Thus existing licences have been furtherly limited by secondary regulations.

On the basis of our 45 years experience in licensing and regulating gear application, one may conclude that the Fisheries Department should intervene in limiting the number and size of nets of individual fishermen only in the case of an abnormal or alarming situation.

One problem encountered by the Advisory Committee on Licensing and the Fisheries Department is whether their decisions should be made solely on the ground of the biological situation of the fish stock, as prescribed by the Ordinance, or should they involve economic consideration. The Fisheries Department's attitude was that there exists a unity of those two aspects, and that the biological criteria when isolated from economic aspects lose their relevance and are not applicable. So far the legitimacy of this attitude is supported by legal advisers, but without appropriate legal amendment may be challenged by any time.

As many types of nets are used for multi-species fishing, the regulation of mesh sizes is sometimes difficult. Thus, for example, trammel nets are used for different Tilapia and even barbel species; Sarotherodon species are larger than less valuable Tilapia and Tristramella, hence the legal 80–90 mm mesh is suitable for the former but too large for the latter species. These, less desirable fishes occupy eco-niches which could be utilized by the more valuable species and from the point of view of management should be taken out in a maximum quantity. This dilemma is dealt with by allowing fishing with 75 mm mesh trammel net only during the main season of appearance of Tilapia, zilli and Tristramella, but this solution is far from being sufficient.

Another regulation requires installation of a large mesh “sieve” panel in purse seines for Kinnereth bleak. The whole body of these purse seines is made of 20–24 mm mesh. This is a rather small mesh size but helps to avoid gilling of the small fish. “Sieving” or “straining the catch” enables fish less than 12 cm of length to escape. Yet, the effectiveness of the “sieve” depends on the willingness of the purse-seine operators to do the sieving thoroughly, this regulation being enforced, if necessary, by confiscation of under-sized fish.

Enforcement :

The fisheries regulations are implemented by a small unit of fisheries inspectors.

Closed areas and seasons:

The lagoons at the northern shores of Lake Kinnereth, known as the plain of Batagha, have been declared closed to fishing during the spawning season (April-May) of Sarotherodon galileus, a fish assumed by some to graze efficiently on the seasonal blooms of the algae, Peridinium, which gives bad smell to the Lake's water. Since this opinion is not shared by others, this is a temporary measure implemented on a trial basis. A special commission has been appointed by the Ministry of Agriculture to deal with this issue.

Some deliberations on the regulation of fishing effort in lakes :

Excessive fishing can no doubt cause considerable damage to fish populations in small lakes and therefore various limitations, some of them alternative and others complementary, are needed to protect the fish resources. Naturally, limitations and restrictions are disliked by most fishermen, hence the implementation of the regulation represents a social and political problem.

On the other hand, however, under-estimation of possible yields may be equally damaging. During the British Mandate in Palestine, in 1938/39, government fishery biologists, after an extensive study of the Kinnereth fisheries, established that the Lake had been over-fished. The annual catch in those years was 300–350 tons and the actual fishing effort less than nowadays. With the annual catch during the last decade ranging from 1,900 to 2,000 tons, it seems to be obvious that the conclusions drawn in 1939 were unjustified.

Stocking :

Stocking Lake Kinnereth with fry of several fish species is based on the following assumptions and facts:

1. Sarotherodon galileus: There exists a limiting factor in the survival of small fry - high mortality occurs between the postlarval and the fingerling stages.

2. Sarotherodon aureus: Natural spawning in the Lake seems to be limited. Until 1965 quantities of Sarotherodon aureus as a result of natural spawning were very small, in spite of the apparent abundance of food. Stocking trials gave immediate positive results.

3. Hypophthalmichthys molitrix (silver carp): There is an ecological niche for these fish which graze to a large extent on nannoplankton, not utilized by others.

4. Mugil species: Small fry caught in rivulets flowing into the Mediterranean, have been introduced in the Lake on an experimental basis in 1960–62. They grow fast and produce a good rate of return in the catch.

The Fisheries Department has therefore embarked on a continuous stocking of these fishes accompanied by statistical and biological monitoring.

Average numbers of fry stocked annually in Lake Kinnereth:

In order to safeguard a regular supply of fry, the Fisheries Department operates a hatchery comprising regular earthen ponds, for Sarotherodon spawning and raising - and a nursery equipped for induced spawning of silver carp. The hatchery facilities serve as a centre for the acclimatization and stocking of fry of Mugil species, which are supplied by contracted fishing groups from the shores of the Mediterranean.

Effect of stocking activities :

Statistical evaluation indicates that each million of stocked Sarotherodon galileus and S. aureus fry results in additional 80 to 90 tons of adult fish in the catch. Each million of stocked Mugil species fry results in about 120 tons of adult mullet, while each million of stocked silver carp results in some 100 tons of adult fish. This rate is still increasing, 18 dwing to fast growth. In recent years, about 600 tons, i.e. close to 30 percent of the annual catch, is the result of stocking. In economic terms, this corresponds to 60 percent of the revenue. The reason is that the non-stocked species such as Kinnereth bleak, Barbus and small Tilapia are relatively low-priced fish. The price ratio, e.g. between the stocked mullet and the bleak, is 0:1.

Stocking is, therefore, an integral element of management and, together with the other measures, enables the lake to maintain the high yield on a continuous basis. It permitted the modernization and intensification of the Kinnereth fisheries without causing any damage to the resource.

We must of course bear in mind that the carrying capacity of a lake is finite and therefore the state of the stock, yields and catch rates, as well as the steps taken by management have to be constantly and closely monitored.

Summary :

In retrospect, it can be said that fisheries management on Lake Kinnereth has dealt until now efficiently with:

1. Limited entry: the method of reasonable licensing of fishermen (as described under “criteria”) and in particular the consistent limitation of the number of fishing units - allowing their number to increase only when total catch was increasing and catch per effort was at least steady - has achieved its aim of avoiding depletion of the fish stock, and has supported the following positive developments:

   • Annual catch increased from 300 tonnes to 2,000 tons owing to intensive stocking and the intensification of fishing methods such as, e.g. the introduction of multi-species nets and of efficient echo sounders in larger and more recently even small craft, the mechanization of purse-seine units and the introduction of labour-saving devices for packing and storage of large catches.

   • The value and actual revenue of the catch have been raised immensely owing to the high prices for the stocked fishes.

2. Marketing problems: the receding value of the Kinnereth bleak and the introduction of silver carp were dealt with in the following ways:

   • The Laboratory for Fisheries Products in Haifa has developed new recipes and brands for the bleak, thus assisting the industry to improve its products.

   • The Ministry has been coordinating efforts to safeguard throughput of bleak in the canneries.

   • The Fishing Technology Unit in Haifa is advising the purse-seine fishermen in finding technical solutions aimed at increasing the minimum size of the captured bleak from 12 cm to 13 cm.

   Acceptance of silver carp by the customers was facilitated by recipe propagation and product promotion.

3. Economic assistance has been extended by granting loans to fishing groups and units, which tended to improve gear methods and vessels. A special joint fund was founded, with equal participation of the Fishermen's Union and the Ministry of Agriculture, in order to enable and facilitate major overhauls of fishing craft and installation of modern cold-storage facilities essential in the extremely hot climatic conditions prevailing at the lake. The Ministry has built and maintained three fishing harbours on the lake's shores in order to facilitate the anchorage and maintenance of fishing craft and the landing of catches under optimum conditions.

4. Rules have been established in order to avoid conflicts between different fishing methods, and the Fisheries Department acts, if necessary, as an arbitrator.

5. Ecological matters: the Fisheries Department keeps a watchful eye in order to coordinate the views and interests of the fishery sector with other public, economic or professional activities in the lake. Changes in environmental conditions and their possible influence on freshwater fish are continuously monitored through frequent inspection of the catch by the Laboratory of Fisheries Products. The Fisheries Department maintains contacts with all the previously-mentioned governmental agencies involved with environmental problems such as water quality, prevention of pollution, nature of reservation, navigation, etc.

Results :

The result of such active management, aware of and sensitive to the different approaches and special needs of the fishermen and fisheries has been the creation of a stable community of fishermen who are proud of their trade and conscious of their hard-earned rights.

In the fishermen's community, sons, grandsons and great-grandsons are clinging to the family tradition of being fishermen, in spite of the growing attraction and temptation of other easier and better-paid occupations in an industrializing society.

Licensing of fishermen and gear is only one component, even if an important one, in the complex system of fisheries management where, as we saw, biological, technical, economic and social problems have to be considered and dealt with.

Figure 1